Social allowance

1. You meet the following academic conditions regarding study progress during the academic year of application:
    
   • You have to register for at least 27 credits during the academic year in which you apply for the social allowance.
      

   • From your third year of enrolment in higher education onwards, you must have achieved a cumulative study efficiency of at least 60% within your current study programme at the VUB to still be entitled to social allowance
     Specifically, at the start of the third enrollment year, we check whether you have achieved a sufficiently high cumulative study efficiency in the previous years:

     • If you are enrolled in several programs at the same time, we only look at the cumulative study efficiency of the programme of study with the highest number of credits taken.
     • If you are enrolling in a master's programme for the first time in the application year and no results are available for that programme yet, we base the assessment on the study programme with the highest number of credits from the previous academic year, which is usually the preparatory, bridging, or bachelor's program.
     • If in the previous year you were in the final year of a bachelor's programme while also enrolled in a master's program, you will still receive a social allowance if you obtained your bachelor's degree, even if your study efficiency for the master's credits was below 60%. 
        

     For example: A student who, in the previous academic year, completed 17 credits in their final bachelor's year and 26 credits in the master's programme with a study efficiency of 57% will still receive support if they obtained their bachelor's degree.
     
     Important: If a VUB student changes their study programme for the first time in their third year, they will still be supported for that third year, even if their cumulative study efficiency was too low in the first two years. For example: A student who studied Educational Sciences at VUB for the first two years and achieved only 47% cumulative study efficiency would normally no longer be eligible for support in the third year. However, if the student switches to Sociology, they will still receive support.

     This criterion is assessed starting from the third year at VUB. If a student has a year with low study efficiency but later achieves a higher efficiency, they may once again become eligible for the social allowance. This means that a student may temporarily lose the right to this support but can qualify again in a later academic year, if they meet the other requirements.

   • From your third year of enrollment at a higher education institution onwards, you may change your study programme only once during your entire higher education career to remain eligible for social allowance.

     A maximum of one study programme change per academic year is counted. Changing to a different higher education institution is also considered a change of study programme in this context, even if it is for the same program. However, transitioning from a bachelor’s to a master’s programme (possibly through a preparatory or bridging programme), even if this involves a change of institution, is not regarded as a study programme change in this context.
     
     For example: A student studies Psychology at UGent for one year. After one academic year, the student decides to continue studying Psychology at VUB. This counts as their first study programme change. In this academic year, the student can still apply for a social allowance. After the first semester, the student switches to Criminological Sciences, but this is not counted as a programme change because it occurred within the same academic year. In the following academic year, the student changes to Sociology. This is the second study programme change. Since the student is now in their third year of higher education, they can no longer apply for a social allowance.

2. If the student's personal or family income includes cadastral income from property owned but not lived in by them, the indexed cadastral income may not exceed € 1.250 euros nor may it be too high in proportion to the other income. Regarding cadastral income, the same rules are applied as the Flemish government uses when allocating a scholarship. 

General conditions
 

The general condition to receive financial support from VUB are:

• The student meets one of the nationality requirements established by the Department of Scholarships of the Flemish Community
• the student is enrolled under a diploma contract (students with a credit or exam contract are not eligible) (*)
• the student is enrolled at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (**)
• the student is enrolled in an initial study programme: a bachelor, a first master, a bridging or preparatory programme (***)
• the student proves a financial need, related to the study costs
   

(*) Students with a credit contract can be eligible for reduced tuition fee or an interest-free loan to pay their tuition fees.
(**) Students must be enrolled for at least 27 credits (with the exception of the final year of their degree programme). This condition applies to applications for social allowance, financial emergency allowance, social allowance, exchange allowance and external grants. 
(***) Students following a teacher training or a second academic degree of the same level or students who have already obtained a Master's degree can only qualify for reduced tuition fee and an interest-free student loan. This interest-free student loan is also available for students who are following an advanced Master's degree. 

Don't agree?

We evaluate your request and make a decision based on these conditions. If you do not agree with a decision made by our Financial Support team regarding your request for financial support, you can lodge an appeal.

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